The Competition
by glockcourage
Summary: Summary: Temari is annoyed and she's taking it on the trees. Then Shikamaru is annoyed and he's taking it on Temari. Solve and review.
1. from trees

**Competition**

Temari dragged her gigantic iron fan behind her, leaving a jagged line drawn on the ground as she strode with purpose towards the edge of Konoha.

Once she reached the woods, she swung her fan and released a strong gust of wind. Immediately, the area around her was cleared, numerous trees were cut down from its trunk and flew for a few metres before falling back to earth with a loud crash, creating a mini earthquake.

She was about to raise her fan for another round when Shikamaru suddenly appeared in front of her, gasping for breath while stretching his hands sideways to stop Temari from unleashing another attack at the innocent greenery.

"Get away!" Temari growled.

"I said stop."

"Get away or I'll let you damn well fly." Temari's meaning was obvious when she lifted her fan in a warning gesture.

Undaunted, Shikamaru turned slightly to be able to point with his thumb at something at his back, at the tallest tree standing just about five hundred metres away from them, "Tch, notice that tree? I have something inscribed on its trunk."

"So?"

"I'm not gonna write it down again."

Temari raised a questioning brow at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru shrugged, bringing his arms down at his side, his face wearing a blank expression.

"Oh," Temari muttered before finally smirking. "I see."

Shikamaru crossed his arms behind his head, shifting his eyes sideways with a careless attitude—not letting on his embarrassment.

"_Really?_ This I gotta see," Temari shouted her intention as she dashed towards the said tree.

Once she reached the huge wide tree, she went around the lower trunk searching for the inscription. Not seeing any, she climb one branch up then another then another. She found it just as Shikamaru appeared at the foot of the tree, looking up to her.

She laughed at Shikamaru as she glanced down from her perch. "You couldn't make it more obvious?"

"_Tch._ Just be glad I did it, woman."

"Aw, I could do better," Temari declared.

This time it was Shikamaru who raised a brow. Trust the woman to answer back this way. "Leave it to you to make this into a competition."

Temari gave Shikamaru a full grin, baring all her teeth with her eyes crinkling at the sides before turning once again towards what was written on the tree, tracing with her fingers the characters carved in the wood—it said:

The Puzzle

.

L**1**_L**2**_L _L _L _L _L _L _L _I

***L _I******************

***L _I******************

***L _I******************

***L**3_**L _L _L _L _L _I******

Across

1. The boy

3. The girl

Down

2. It beats

.

—o0o—

~3 2 12AF~

A/N: Review? Answer?


	2. to paper

**Chapter 2**

Shikamaru dragged his feet after the Sand kunoichi. Deep in thought, he bumped into Temari's back, consequently hitting his nose on her iron fan.

"_What the hell!"_ Temari jerked as if attacked before she twisted around to glare at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru, rubbing the bridge of his painful nose, returned Temari's sharp look. "If you didn't walk so fast and suddenly stop—"

Temari interrupted, "If you were actually paying attention—"

"If you weren't in such a hurry to leave—"

"_What?_ I'm scheduled to leave today!" Temari scowled.

"I know that." Shikamaru frowned.

Temari raised a singular eyebrow at Shikamaru, waiting for an explanation. When none was forthcoming, Temari gestured at the big Konoha gate they just passed through minutes ago. "Here we are. You have done your duty, you can go now."

Shikamaru's frown deepened. _"You sure?"_

Temari blinked her eyes in exasperation. "Yeah I'm sure—_oh_."

"Yes. Oh," Shikamaru retorted.

Temari took off her satchel slung across her shoulders. Crouching on her knees on the ground, she opened the bag; pulling out clothes, toiletries, a rolled newspaper, some kunais, peppermint candies, a pen and other knickknacks while Shikamaru became more impatient as more items were taken out but not offered to him.

"I can't believe you lost _'it'_," Shikamaru sighed in disappointment when finally Temari shook her bag upside down, pouring all of its remaining contents on the ground. "No, you didn't lose anything; you just realized you don't wanna say it. You had three days in which to plan _how to top what I did_ but you changed your mind since you don't feel the same as I—"

"Stop whining!" Temari grabbed the newspaper, unrolled it then she picked the pen and started furiously scribbling something on front page using the ground as her table. Once finish, "Here!" she spat as she extended the paper towards Shikamaru.

Shikamaru bent to retrieve the newspaper, not bothering to help Temari with her disarrayed things.

While Temari gathered all her belongings and stuffed it back into her satchel, Shikamaru tried to make sense out of what was sloppily written.

Superimposed on the ink of the newspaper, Shikamaru saw a similar puzzle:

.

L2_I

L1_L _L _L _I

L _I

L3_L _L _L _L _ L _I

Across

1. air

3. silhouette

Down

2. possesses

.

"You do realize this isn't _something better_. And it lacks two _'the's'_," Shikamaru pointed out.

"Stop nitpicking! _Honestly!_" Temari huffed and heaved her satchel up back on her shoulders as if it weighs a ton. Taking a deep, controlling breath Temari then bade mulishly, "I'm going."

Shikamaru simply nodded his head at Temari and only when she had walked several meters away from him did he deemed it safe to shout, "I win."

"That's what you think," Temari yelled back before with a star-like flash, she disappeared in flight back to Suna.

Shikamaru stared at the area where Temari vanished in sight then finally he turned his attention back on the newspaper. The front page of the _Konoha Morning Daily _mutilated with Temari's hastily drawn boxes was not the entire declaration? Opening the succeeding pages and browsing through it one by one, he at last found the same puzzle boxed in one corner of the obituary section.

"_She had it placed on the death ads?"_ Shikamaru mumbled to himself. Was the underlying message of death meant for him if he disagrees with her? Or did the troublesome woman just wanted to threaten the entire female population of Konoha with their demise if they didn't heed her announcement?

Scratching his head, Shikamaru rolled the two-day old paper and strolled back home. Defeat was a bit scary and definitely okay this time.

—o0o—

~4 15 12~

A/N: Hmn the crossword here, is it difficult? Hehe I wanted it to be on the buy and sell ad but decided it would sound like Temari's buying or selling Shika…oh well reviews, answers are awesome!

Thanks smonkey!


	3. epilogue

A/N: For yo mama, I couldn't pm you to answer your inquiry so I wrote this…

**Epilogue**

"What do you need to create fire?"

"Gasoline?"

"No. Aside from that?"

The chunin just looked blankly at his superior.

"Oxygen. _Air!" _The jounin pointed at something on the open newspaper. "You need air specifically oxygen to create fire. This number 1 across, the four letter word for air is fire, I'm sure of it. This is a covert message that carries the threat to the Land of Fire, specifically our village."

"How could you be so sure?"

"I already made some inquiries. The one who had it published was a hooded foreign kunoichi," the jounin answered. "And she was adamant that it should be on the obituary section of _Konoha Morning Daily_."

"Foreign kunoichi? Obituary section?" the chunin parroted.

"Yes, a foreign nin sending a message on the _Death_ ads."

The chunin nodded in agreement at his superior and picked the newspaper from the table. "The other clues—number 2 is possesses and number 3, silhouette—both sound ominous."

"It's paramount to find what number 2 and 3 mean," the jounin announced, banging the table with his fist.

While the lower ranked shinobi stared hard at the newspaper, trying to figure the puzzle. "Fire possesses silhouette?"

"I have already reported this to the Hokage. She did not sound that overly concerned but she did order Nara Shikamaru to our department today." The jounin frowned. "This death ad in _Konoha M Daily_ was published two days ago and so far I haven't had any luck unlocking this puzzle at all."

There was silence as both shinobis think. When suddenly, the chunin shouted excitedly, "The four letter word for possesses is _have_! The answer could be _have_—"a disappointed pause, "—but its second letter is _A_ not F for fire."

"I told you Nara would be coming to help," the jounin snapped.

"We can figure it ourselves. Now, the third word, silhouette, might mean dark or shaded. Maybe the third word is shaded." The chunin sounded eager. "Shaded is a six letter word! It fits!"

"That doesn't make sense! _The Fire Possesses Shaded?_"

"Shaded black!" the chunin suggested further.

"Shaded black are two words, _you dolt!_" the jounin growled.

"A six letter word for shaded black…_hmn_…_hmn_…" the chunin mumbled his thoughts aloud, finally yelling, "I know! I know! It's _burned_! The message is the _'Fire possesses burned!'_ Now, if we replace _Possesses _with its possible synonym _Have_—the message might be similar to, '_The Fire has burned!_'"

"The fire has burned? _The Leaf Village in the Land of Fire burned!_" The jounin suddenly raised petrified eyes. "I hope you're wrong but—" a pregnant pause, "—you just might be right!"

—o0o—

~4 28, 5 1 12AF~

A/N: _Aw poor Shikamaru!_ Hehe hope you guys get the joke and, well, it rest on you guys knowing the actual answer to the crossword puzzle in chapter 2. Just think of the words' synonyms or just check Apauc's review : P


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